Only God Can Tell Us What Will Happen
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Only God Can Tell Us What Will Happen
Isaiah 41
Who told about this from the beginning, so that we might know, and from times past, so that we might say, “He is right”? No one announced it, no one told it, no one heard your words. I was the first to say to Zion, “Look! Here they are!” And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news. (Isa 41:26-27)
Main Idea: The Lord challenges the idols to do what only he can do: predict the future and then carry it out. This reveals the uniqueness of the Bible as a record of fulfilled prophecies.
- The Lord Challenges Idols and Defeats Them!
- Israel’s sin: idolatry
- God’s remedy: challenge the idols, control history, save his people.
- The Lord Stirs Up a Conqueror to Do His Bidding (41:1-7).
- The summons to the whole earth: a contest between God and the idols (41:1)
- God’s claim: orchestration of human history (41:2-4)
- The futility of idols as saviors (41:5-7)
- The Lord Defeats Israel’s Enemies (41:8-16).
- God’s promises to Abraham’s children (41:8-16)
- God’s threat to Israel’s enemies (41:11-16)
- The Lord Transforms Nature and Refreshes His People (41:17-20).
- Drought, both spiritual and physical
- God’s promise through the spirit
- The regeneration of the earth
- The Lord Alone Determines and Declares the Future (41:21-29).
- God’s challenge to the idols: tell the future.
- God alone predicted Cyrus.
- God alone rules human history.
The Lord Challenges Idols and Defeats Them!
Non-Christians love to point out the fact that other religions are essentially the same as Christianity, having a holy book, a holy prophet, and a pattern of superior behavior. The skeptical world demands, “What makes your religion better than all the others?” One clear distinction is the uniqueness of the Bible. Skeptics may claim that many religions have sacred writings that they cling to: Islam’s Qur’an, Hinduism’s Vedas, Buddhism’s Buddhavacana. So, how can Christians know that the Bible is unique in this crowded field of holy books revered by millions around the world? Our best answer is that only the Bible describes the person and work of Jesus Christ, whose uniqueness should be obvious: claiming to be God incarnate, sinless, teaching in ways that no one had ever taught, working miracles, and especially dying on the cross and rising from the dead on the third day—this last being witnessed by more than five hundred people.
But along with this is the uniqueness of the Bible in fulfilled prophecy. The Bible contains the words of dozens of prophets who spoke with amazing clarity about future events—as many as two thousand specific prophecies. In Isaiah alone there are hundreds of very specific prophecies about the nations of his day: Israel, Judah, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Babylon, and others. By contrast, if you research Islamic prophecies, you will come up with some vague generalities, not true prophecies. Buddhism and Hinduism are not known for making any specific prophecies about world events. The bottom line is this: only the Bible has this kind of fulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 41 clearly proclaims God’s stunning power to take on the idols of the world, challenging them to a simple test: declare the future, then bring it to pass.
The context of this chapter is powerful. The God who sits enthroned above the circle of the earth controls human history for his own purpose (Isa 40:22). His sovereign power is directly applied to the salvation plan he has worked out for his people, and that includes the events that surround the return of Judah from exile in Babylon. Isaiah 39 predicted the exile to Babylon, and much of chapters 40–66 speak of God orchestrating the return from Babylon. But deeper than that, in this chapter God addresses the very sin that would lead to the exile to begin with: idolatry. God is jealous over the affections of his people as a husband would be over the affections of his wife. And if a rival comes calling, the jealous husband will rise up and challenge him. God’s claim and challenge are this: I alone know the future, predict the future, and bring those predictions to pass.
The key concept behind this unique power of God to foretell the future is the sequencing of events that mark the unfolding of history. Verse 4 speaks of a linear view of history: “Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I am the Lord, the first and with the last—I am he.” Jesus claims the same thing for himself in Revelation 22:13: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” The linear view of history is essential to the miracle of prophecy: first A, then B, then C. So it is in redemptive history: the call of Abraham must precede the slavery of Abraham’s descendants in Egypt, and that slavery in Egypt must precede the exodus from Egypt, and on down to the smallest detail of history. Along with this is the clear limitation we humans have: “Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring” (Prov 27:1). Even tomorrow is veiled to us. So when God makes amazing predictions in the Bible and then brings them to pass, it is clear evidence of his existence and supremacy. In Isaiah 41 God exposes the idols for the frauds they are.
The specific topic here is the calling of “one from the east” who comes to do God’s bidding in history (v. 25), ending in the restoration of the Jews to the promised land. Though in this chapter God does not tell us his name, he will in Isaiah 44–45: Cyrus.
The Lord Stirs Up a Conqueror to Do His Bidding
Isaiah 41:1-7
God the Judge begins by summoning the whole earth to his courtroom (v. 1), an assertion of his authority over every nation on earth. He calls on these idolaters to “renew their strength,” for they will need strength to face God on judgment day.
Next, God declares his power to orchestrate the events of history (vv. 2-4). He summons “someone from the east” to whom he hands over nations. God’s direct involvement ensures that this one will conquer kings, turning them to dust with his sword. Cyrus the Great of Persia fulfilled these words. Cyrus himself goes “safely” (v. 3), not wounded by any of these battles. Great leaders frequently expose themselves with stunning courage on the battlefield. Alexander the Great vaulted alone over a wall of the Multanese Citadel in the eastern Punjab and was severely wounded (Hammond, Genius of Alexander, 172–73). At the battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, George Washington rode within thirty yards of the British line on a large, white horse, leading his men boldly under a withering hail of British musket fire. An aide covered his own eyes with his cloak so as not to watch his chief’s inevitable death (Lancaster, Golden Book, 98). Obviously if these great leaders had been killed, we would never have heard of them. But God willed for Cyrus to move safely from battle to battle, building the great Persian empire that would topple Babylon and release the Jewish exiles. This “one from the east” treads paths his feet have never walked before. History records that Cyrus crossed the Tigris River from the east and so entered the Babylonian Empire; he marched quickly and defeated the wealthy King Croesus of Lydia, conquering his capital Sardis (Herodotus, Histories 1.76–86, 44–49). So he came from both the east and the north. The specificity of this prophecy more than a century and a half beforehand is stunning.
God’s direct activity in all this is the focus of verse 4: “Who has performed . . . this . . . ? I am the Lord.” God is sovereign not only with this generation but with every generation in history. The Lord determines the times set for all peoples and the exact places where they should live (Amos 9:7; Acts 17:26). Cyrus the Great and his Persian Empire are just one example of this. Idolaters trembling at Cyrus’s approach turn to their metal gods, which have to be nailed down so they won’t topple (Isa 41:6-7)!
The Lord Defeats Israel’s Enemies
Isaiah 41:8-16
Verse 8 is a sharp contrast between Israel and the pagan nations of verses 1-7. Because of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham his “friend,” he will take hold of Israel with his righteous right hand (vv. 8-10). God speaks plainly of the enemies of his chosen people in verses 11-16, assuring his weak children (“worm Jacob”) that they will look in triumph over their once terrifying but now defeated foes (vv. 11-12). God will make Israel into a mighty threshing board, with many new teeth (v. 15). The mountains they thresh represent the looming obstacles the little worm Israel is facing, but those problems will become like chaff swept away before the wind. There will come a time when God’s people will search for any enemies at all and find none.
Though we may see the immediate fulfillment of these words in the destruction of Babylon by Cyrus the Great, yet it is farfetched to say that under the Persian domination Israel will look for enemies but find none (v. 12). This language points ultimately to Christ’s kingdom. Our real enemies (“mountains,” v. 15) are spiritual, not political or military. Our sins are as mighty as mountains in their threat to our souls. So also Satan and his demons are arrayed against us, as are his human servants in this world. In Christ alone are all these spiritual threats defeated. By Christ’s death and resurrection alone will verses 10-16 be fulfilled. Only after the second coming of Christ will Satan soon be crushed under our feet (Rom 16:20).
The Lord Transforms Nature and Refreshes His People
Isaiah 41:17-20
The powerful image of a drought-stricken land, with people desperately seeking life-giving water, stands before us in these verses. It represents both a literal and a spiritual reality. The promised land was cursed by drought when Israelites violated the Mosaic covenant (Deut 28:23-24). Theirs was a land “flowing with milk and honey,” richly blessed year round with abundant water. But because of their sins, God had turned this beautiful land into “barren heights” (v. 18), and its inhabitants were seeking water but finding none (v. 17).
Yet the deeper thirst is spiritual. As Psalm 63:1 says, “God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you . . . in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.” Distance from God creates spiritual drought. But verses 17-20 here promise that God has power to turn the desert into gushing mountain springs. Though it is possible that God did this literally in the promised land after the exile, the real issue is of spiritual revival by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 44:3 likens the outpouring of the Spirit on God’s people to water poured on desert land. The flourishing plant life of our text (vv. 19-20) represents both the literal transformation of the earth ultimately by Christ in the new earth (Rom 8:20-24) and the spiritual transformation of his people by their faith in him.
The Lord Alone Determines and Declares the Future
Isaiah 41:21-29
The chapter resumes God’s jealous contest with the idols that have seduced the heart of his bride (v. 21). Like Elijah’s duel with Baal on Mt. Carmel, it is the Lord who determines the ground rules for the contest. In this case it is this: predict the future. The clear implication of this is that no created being—neither human, nor angel, nor demon—knows the future apart from the revelation of God. God is sovereign, and he decides what will happen in his universe. As we saw in Isaiah 7:7, God is able to veto any plan of even the mightiest movers and shakers on planet Earth. Conversely, as we saw in Isaiah 14:27, no one has the power to veto even the smallest of his plans. God has determined every twist and turn of history (Acts 17:26; Eph 1:11), including all the mighty emperors with their impressive conquests, the sparkling cities they would build, how long they would rule, what scientific advances they would sponsor, and what effect they would have on literature and language, music and culture. God is able to predict the future because he has already decreed the future, even to the smallest detail (like Cyrus’s name). He is then supremely capable of bringing it to pass.
The idols can do nothing since they represent gods that don’t exist. In the end, the living God mocks them, saying, “Do something, whether good or bad!” They stand there motionless, while God raises up world rulers like Cyrus (v. 25).
Applications
God’s purpose in inspiring this chapter was ultimately the salvation of his own elect children. We are the ones who read the Bible with faith and marvel at its astonishing predictive prophecies. And by far the most important predictions God ever made center on Christ: his birth, life, death, and resurrection. The lesser prophecies about Cyrus and Alexander are not nearly as significant as those predicting Christ. Can Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, or any other false religion compete in the contest God has set up in Isaiah 41? Let them bring forth their prophecies!
Deeper than that, we can take assurance from the fact that God does all this for his defenseless people—“worm Jacob.” God called Abraham his “friend” in verse 8, and we were chosen to be his children by faith in Christ. So we can hold verse 10 to our trembling hearts as major events shake our world: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” What a powerful promise to cling to if a child is fighting for his life in an ICU, a woman suddenly becomes a widow one dreadful afternoon, or a weak Christian minority in a predominantly Muslim country sees their nation invaded by militant Islamic forces. God is controlling large and small events to ensure that not one of his elect will be lost but that all will come to final salvation through faith in Christ. There will come a day when God Omnipotent will have removed all of our foes forever (v. 12).
Reflect and Discuss
- How can we use God’s amazing ability to predict and control events of human history in witnessing to unbelievers?
- What does the contest that God initiates with the idols show about his jealous nature over our hearts?
- How do verses 2-4 show God’s sovereign activity in the military success of Cyrus the Great? How does it connect with Acts 17:26?
- What does verse 4 mean to you when it says that God is with the first and the last of the generations in terms of sovereign control of human history?
- What is the significance of God calling Abraham his friend? How does it relate to Christ calling us “brothers” after his resurrection (John 20:17)?
- How would memorizing verse 10 and quoting it regularly to yourself help you in times of trial?
- What comfort do verses 11-16 give concerning our final vindication before our enemies?
- How do verses 17-20 (along with Isa 44:3) give us a sense of the Holy Spirit’s work of revival on dry, distant souls?
- How do verses 22-23 make it plain that only God can predict the future?
- As you look at the events of our time, how could Isaiah 41 be a special comfort to all Christians around the world?